Like most MMOs In the beginning you can play all trhe classes pretty much the same but they start to differ pretty quickly after that,.

I would get some more time under your bekt before making game and class judgements. :)

For instance Guardian <> Conquerer.

For many the negatives you mention like lack of races could be the very things they see as positives. Many folks may like a low fantasy setting and welcome it as a nice change from gnomes and elves.

I hear ya but I wouldn't make sweeping statements that people are gonna get bored. Could just be the game isn't for you. :) I'm not knocking you btw I'm just saying it's more of a personal choice then what one can surmise from a few hours in the game.

I don't see much change either way. What matters is AoC getting enough subscribers to make a profit and I don't see FunCom having much trouble with that.

I think to many companies/people get hung up on trying to obtain WoW subscriber numbers as if that bar is the only way to to judge whether a MMO is sucessful or not. Fact is you can have a far smaller subscriber base and still make really good money running your game.

Originally posted by //\\//\\oo

Although I definitely preferred WoW as a game to AO, I could never feel myself truly immersed as I have in AO.. could be just something exclusive to my psychology so :X 

I felt like UO and AO were the most immersive MMOs ever. Even more than the early days of SWG which I thought was also immersive with cantinas and such. Back before the macro days, heh.LIke you said the AO clubs, the music, the clothes (tons of clothes!) and the great art direction. Having played AO I was not surprised at all that the art direction in AoC would be great.

I remember people would have party things at the clubs in AO where someone would be a DJ and actually play music from a WinAmp server (I think that is how that did it anyway). Have not experienced anything like that since. I normally don't like that social hang out stuff in MMOs but that was pretty dang cool.

AO also had great emotes. Sorry to get off topic. ^_^ Trip down memory lane and all that.

Originally posted by Bladin

AoC and WAR are the only two in development that really scream out production value

Though I am fired up about AoC I must admit that WAR seems like it is shaping up to be the Cadliac of MMOs. Yeah we won't know until we play it for sure but from what I have seen it sure looks like they are implementing alot of good ideas.

Just bought the game today after enjoying the end of beta and I am fired up.

But in looking at the screenshots I was wondering if anyone can comment on whether there is a lot of diversity in what people/players will look like. I know it won't even come close to CoH but I wonder if it will be enough such that you can tell people apart or at least such that everyone won't look like a clone.

Can anyone who has played comment on this?

Thanks.

Originally posted by Elthris

I for one can not wait for this game to come out.I have not had the chance to play coh/cov but from what a lot of people said that game is awesome so i am definitely looking forward to this game

There's a 10 or 14 day trial floating around. You should give it a try. It's a really fun game.

Originally posted by vmoped

I am getting concerned about he community though from what I am reading on the forums lately. It seems that the community has really sunk to an all time low that will hopefully improve once the forums are only accessible to subscribers (to be honest I kinda expected the community to be a bit rough before launch, but it is really bad atm).

I would not worry about that to much. Of all the MMOs I have played I have always seen these types of posts. But I rarely really came across these people in game. Although it is usually best to block out general and zone chat. :) I think like players usually end up gravitating to each other. At least that has been my experience.

I also think this kind of thing will be more prevalent on PvP servers. That’s just a guess though based on my little experience playing on such a server.

Personally I usually stay away from official boards as well as that seems to be where most the whiners and overly enthused hang out. I hate MMO whiners more than the immature players.

I do think the violence of the game will attract a more d00dish crowd and that may affect things. I think the “age” restriction is a joke and most parents will buy the game because they don’t know any better. :)

I figured I would wait a while (few weeks) but then when the “miracle” patch (as some people call it) was released in OB I changed my tune and just can’t wait for weeks to pass by. Launch maybe a mess but I want to be there at least to try it out and see what’s what. Just having the game and knowing that I can fight the rush if I want to is enough for me. Once I have it I think I will be able to wait a few days/weeks if the launch is a disaster. I was there when AO was launched so I know the thin line FunCom walks with this release and I am hoping they learned from their mistakes but who knows. I am going to risk it regardless. I thought the game was that fun when I played in the OB.

Mass Effect is being released for the PC on the 27th so that plays a role in my decision as well as I can play that while AoC straightens it self out if the launch is a wreck. :)

Originally posted by Zarraa

While CoX is a great game Champions has the potential to be huge. Titles that have pre-established lore  have a big headstart.

If it is implemented smoothly I really like the idea of the "create your own nemesis". That would be so cool to meet up with him/her in missions!

I know graphics aren't everything but look at the detail of that armor in the first shot. Some love went into that me thinks.

I am so loking forward to this game!

Originally posted by Ozmodan

When will these MMO's get it, putting stealth in a game inherently unbalances it.  It just leads to constant complaints from everyone else. 

I agree.

Not to mention a game such as this going the Sci-Fi route vs. Fantasy (which I am glad they did) I would have thought they would have left this kind of thing behind and come up something else that the "sneak" type characters could do that no other profession could. I don't know what but off hand maybe be able to download some information that would help the party view more of the map or maybe show weak spots to group members on what they are fighting.

Sneak does tend to be on the unbalanced side. And even it if didn't having played alot of MMOs it seems to be one of those skills/perks the devs constantly have to tweak and spend time on when they could be spreading their time around on multiple professions/classes. Just my opinion of course.

The sniper makes sense to me as I think it fits within the context of the game world and I can see how it can integrate well with the party but the sneak stuff leaves me with a meh feeling.

As others have stated. I don't see the delay as a problem. I have played most all of the major MMOs and they all seem to have one delay or another. Taking their time seems like a good move to me.

However, also what others have said,  what sends a red flag for me is the corporate mumbo-jumbo about letting the "specialzed" people go. *cough* You mean you fired people. That sounds like money crunch talk to me. I mean how about let'em become testers? They would be better than testers as they could not only test but probably fix things as they go.

I don't know. Sounds like money crunch talk to me. And I don't think that is a good sign.

I am not crying doooomm by any means but as I said it does send a red flag up for me.

Originally posted by cerebrix

gaute godager learned the hard way.  never ever ever ever ever ever release an mmo unless you are absolutely, 100% positive that the game is ready.  he went thru HELL with anarchy online's launch and caught hell for the decisions he made back then.

 

its refreshing to see, he learned from his mistakes.  i think hed rather sever his own reproductive organs than blow the launch of this game.

 

cant say as i blame him, i remember falling thru the ground in omni ent and my character being stuck "in the world" for a week before they could fix it and when they did, i couldnt zone into omni forest anyway because well... omni forest was broken too.

 

bravo gaute.  you learned from your mistakes.

That's exactly the point I was going to bring up. This is a company that had argueably had the worse MMO launch of them all. AO was a complete mess. I mean complete mess.

They should take their time with this one if they need to delay it they should. They really really don't need another AO fiasco.

To their credit they fixed AO and got it up and running and I had a good time with it. But not in the beginning. Back then I wondered what the hell happened.